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US 12,728,984 B2Granted
Rotor assembly
AssigneeVertical Aerospace Group Limited
InventorsMark Cornborough, William Soukal-Walsh, Sean Briscall, James East, Tiago Vasconcelos
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AssigneeVertical Aerospace Group Limited
InventorsMark Cornborough, William Soukal-Walsh, Sean Briscall, James East, Tiago Vasconcelos
Estimating the term…
A rotor assembly includes a first rotor, a second rotor and a damper system. The first and second rotors are arranged to be rotated about a common axis for thrust generation by a drive system. The first rotor is rotatable about the common axis relative to the second rotor between a stowed configuration of the rotor assembly in which a rotor blade of the first rotor and a rotor blade of the second rotor are substantially angularly aligned and a deployed configuration in which the rotor blade of the first rotor and the rotor blade of the second rotor are angularly misaligned. The damper system is arranged to generate a damper force opposing the relative rotation between the first and second rotors in at least one of the direction towards the stowed configuration and the direction towards the deployed configuration.
A rotor assembly comprising a first rotor, a second rotor and a damper system, the first and second rotors being arranged to be rotated about a common axis for thrust generation by a drive system and where the first rotor is rotatable about the common axis relative to the second rotor between a stowed configuration of the rotor assembly in which a rotor blade of the first rotor and a rotor blade of the second rotor are angularly aligned and a deployed configuration in which the rotor blade of the first rotor and the rotor blade of the second rotor are angularly misaligned and where the damper system is arranged to generate a damper force opposing the relative rotation between the first and second rotors in at least one of the direction towards the stowed configuration and the direction towards the deployed configuration, and where the damper system comprises a rotary fluid viscous damper.
A method of controlling reconfiguration of a rotor assembly, the rotor assembly comprising a first rotor and a second rotor, the first and second rotors being arranged to be rotated about a common axis for thrust generation by a drive system and where the first rotor is rotatable about the common axis relative to the second rotor between a stowed configuration of the rotor assembly in which a rotor blade of the first rotor and a rotor blade of the second rotor are angularly aligned and a deployed configuration in which the rotor blade of the first rotor and the rotor blade of the second rotor are angularly misaligned, the method comprising a damper system comprising a rotary fluid viscous damper generating a damper force opposing the relative rotation between the first and second rotors in at least one of the direction towards the stowed configuration and the direction towards the deployed configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.